The List Of Processed Foods: From Processed Meat To Oils, Fats & Salts

Processed food is any food that has been mechanically or chemically altered or modified in some way during preparation, in order to change, preserve, or improve its taste. In other words, processed foods are those that typically come in a box or bag and contain two or more ingredients.

Nowadays, a large amount of food these days is processed, from the milk you drink during breakfast to cakes and microwave meals. Therefore, it’s impossible to avoid all processed foods. Some of them are actually very healthy, like Greek yogurt, frozen vegetables, precooked whole grains, nut butters, tofu, organic stock, and unsalted canned beans.

Therefore, processed foods include foods that have been canned, cooked, frozen, packaged or changed in nutritional composition with preserving, fortifying, or preparing in different ways. So, whenever we cook, bake or prepare food, we are actually processing food.

When talking about how healthy or unhealthy processed foods are for us, there is a lot of debate. However, the general consensus is that less processed food is better.

On the other hand, processed food provide you with more nutrients; breakfast cereals may be rich in fibers, and milk and juices sometimes are fortified with calcium and vitamin D.

Processed Baked Goods

Despite you may sometimes find freshly baked goods at the supermarket, baked goods are almost always processed.

Processed baked goods include:

Bread

Flour

White Rice

Rolls

Bagels

Buns

Bread Sticks

Pizza Crusts

Pasta

Macaroni

Pie Crusts

Cookies

Cake (and Cake Mixes)

Doughnuts

Pastries

Pop Tarts (and similar foods)

Taco Shells

Muffins

Fast Food

Fast food is the only category people are fully aware that the food is processed. Despite this, fast food is very popular.

In this category, food, as follows, are included:

Microwave Pizza

Pizza Rolls

Frozen Dinners

Microwave Burritos

Microwave Tacos

Jalapeno Poppers

Raman Noodles

Roasted & Salted Nuts

Granola Bars (and bagged granola)

Dairy Foods

Dairy food, on the other hand, is a category in which many people are not aware of processed food. There are, however, some foods in this category which are part of a healthy diet. Nevertheless, as we mentioned above, the less the food is processed, the better.

Snack Foods

Snack foods are typically heavily processed, therefore minimizing their consumption would be a convenient practice for everyone.

Let’s see the list of snack foods:

Chocolate

White Sugar

Brown Sugar

Sugar Substituted

Powdered Sugar

Rice Syrup

Corn Syrup

Marshmallows

Whipped Cream

Shredded Coconut

Honey (You can buy raw honey, which is not processed)

Pudding

Hard Candy

Soft Candies

Ice Cream

Maple Syrup

Caramel

Processed Beverages

Beverages, other than water, are most of the time processed. But, if you want to drink an unprocessed beverage, you can juice your own fruit at home.

Processed beverages are as follows:

All Soda

Apple Juice

Orange Juice

Grape Juice

Cranberry Juice

Juice Flavored Drinks

Grapefruit Juice

Instant Breakfasts

Flavored Waters

Tea (You can buy unprocessed tea)

Coffee (you can buy raw coffee)

Oils, Fats, Salts & More

Same as beverages, oils, fats, and other products are typically going to be processed.

Margarine

BBQ Sauce

Peanut Butter

Mayonnaise

Vegetable Oils

Most Seed Oils

Refined Oils

Soy Sauce

Cooking Spray

Salad Dressings

Cashew Butter

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